Sunday, January 19, 2014

Good Morning Jessicca...

Letter to my DaughterSunday, 19 January

What it means to be human

Good Morning Jessicca…

Numbers and words have no existence outside the human mind. A world without people reveals no evidence as
to the validity of these concepts of intellect.
Until recently the surface of the planet Mars simply existed, without
the need to account for itself in any way that might be construed as a reason
for being. Then came machines. They crawl about the land of Mars, occasionally
stopping to break its surface and dig into the soil. They were sent by humans inhabiting the
neighboring planet Earth. These
mechanical devices are missionaries that bring the first evidence that there now
exists a mental construction, fashioned from words, which humans refer to as meaning.
These roving devices are precise constructions of a preconceived purpose.
Purpose is like numbers and words.
The idea of purpose is of no consequence outside the boundaries of the
individual human mind. This mind is
unique in a number of ways. It is self-aware and wonders of the nature of its
own existence. The mind is a form of
consciousness that endlessly explores itself and its perceived surroundings,
armed with a revolutionary potent tool – the question. The question is a mental
device that goes beyond the biological instinct known as curiosity because it is
based on a formally constructed purpose we will call intent. Questions displaying
intent rely on the analytical words how
and why as well as specific
fact-seeking words such as what, when and where. The intent-based question requires another tool unique to
human consciousness. This is a tool
fashioned from a capability human’s have developed over time and we’ve termed
it reason. Reason is a concept founded on the growing
belief that every object and every event in existence is the result of one or
more specific causes and that this cause-and-effect
phenomenon is potentially predictable because existence is fundamentally neither
random nor arbitrary. The human mind has
grown increasingly confident that the brain’s ability to reason makes
understanding existence within the realm of possibility.

Why did human beings go to the expense and trouble of
sending a machine to Mars? There are
many reasons having to do with the intent to answer arcane scientific questions
and to further develop human technological capabilities but, uppermost in most
people’s mind, is the question whether life has existed on another planet. If it is determined that no life ever existed
on Mars then the question becomes, “If not Mars, where?” If, on the other hand, life or its remnants
have been proven to exist on Mars then the minds of human beings are flooded with
new questions. We humans find renewed
motivation to speculate on numerous intriguing avenues of possibilities. What is the source of life? Are there other forms of consciousness
comparable to ours? Do they believe in
God? If not, why? If yes, then what is the nature of their
God? Is the concept of God inherent to
the thought of higher consciousness? If
God is absent in the consciousness of others then what does that imply about
human spiritual beliefs? Does our hope
for God’s existence have to do with our desire for meaning in life? What is the nature of meaning without
God? A machine searching the sands of
Mars for evidence of life is invested with the meaning of what it is to be
human. We don’t want to be alone. We want our lives to have purpose beyond
generating our biological offspring. We
want something of greater value than just merely existing. The many monuments we have created throughout
human history – churches, statues, a flag on the Moon, a simple blue ribbon –
all have to do with instilling in us the value of meaning. We matter.
No one celebrates the life of an individual sparrow. Who mourns the rose separated from its stem?

Numbers and words – we have each a name. We each count the length of our solitary
existence and share our sentiments with those close to us. We all have ingenuity, love, happiness and
fear that together makes us each somewhat unique. Here, then, is the kernel of our meaning –
modest as it may seem.